


Hannah’s Bananas Foster

by SlytherLynn



Series: Blood Runs Through [1]
Category: Black Friday - Fandom, tgwdlm - Fandom
Genre: Cooking, Ethan and Hannah bonding, Gen, really soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:35:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24758671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherLynn/pseuds/SlytherLynn
Summary: When Lex needs a last minute babysitter, Ethan is more than willing to help and meet his friend’s kid sister, Hannah.
Relationships: Ethan Green and Hannah Foster, Ethan Green and Lex Foster, Lex and Hannah Foster
Series: Blood Runs Through [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1790512
Comments: 18
Kudos: 64





	Hannah’s Bananas Foster

**Author's Note:**

> This is a one shot for JessLetItHappen, who got all eight musical references in Chapter 48 of Blood Runs Blue and Red. This story takes place about three years before the events of TGWDLM.

“Hey, do you think you can watch my kid sister tonight?” 

Ethan and Lex were standing outside her homeroom class, and Ethan was far too busy staring at Lex’s lips to catch what she said.

“Huh?”

She punched his shoulder, “Asshole. You could at least  _ pretend _ to pay attention when I’m talking to you. I keep tellin’ you, Dude, Deb is gay as fuck. You gotta stop thinkin’ about her all the damned time.”

Lex laughed, and Ethan forced himself to as well.

“Ha. Yeah, sorry. But-ah...what’d ya say? I must’ve been thinkin’ ‘bout...Deb. Sorry.”

She smirked and said, “I  _ asked _ if you could watch Hannah tonight. She’s six, and Mom’s been out drinking for the last few nights, and normally it’d be fine, ‘cause Grace is usually available, but she’s watching Mr. Houston’s kid while he and his wife go out or something, and Frank called this morning and said he needed me there tonight or I’d be fired, and I can’t get-”

He stopped her before she started really freaking out. 

“Yeah, yeah of course I can watch her. I’ll just call my dads and tell ‘em I’ll be out tonight. They shouldn’t care. What time d’ya need me at the trailer?”

She launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Thank you! Oh my god, thank you so fucking much, Ethan! Um… I gotta be at Lakeside at five, so if you could be there at like four, so I can introduce you two before I gotta go, that’d be great!” 

“Yeah, I’ll be there, should I bring food? Or-or would it be better to cook there, or what?” He asked. He could cook, John and Xander had made sure he could, since there were nights where they both had duty or were on missions. 

“Oh, you don’t have to do that! She’s got some cereal she can have.”

Yeah. As if he was gonna make a six year old eat cereal for dinner, when he could easily make her a proper dinner. 

Lex hadn’t let him meet Hannah yet, even though the two of them had been friends since the beginning of the school year, and they’d been partnered up in shop class. She’d claimed her sister didn’t like to be around strangers, and she had enough stress at school that Lex wasn’t gonna force Hannah to meet her friends. 

Of course, from what Ethan’d pieced together, their home life wasn’t the best. Their mom was either drunk, doped up on heroin, or yelling at the girls. Ethan didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t told his dads, because what would they do? It wasn’t really a PEIP matter, but Ethan still felt guilty for not telling them. 

“Alright,” he said, just as the warning bell rang. They called it a bell, but it was more of an annoying drone. Supposedly Hatchetfield High had a little musical ji-ji- fuck. Little song. Alice and Deb made fun of it all the time at their little ‘smoke club’ things.

“Great! See ya in shop!” She said before turning into her classroom.

“See ya in shop,” Ethan said, sticking his hands into his pockets and watching her, before realizing that he, too, had homeroom, and was about to be very, very late.

…

Lex had said to be there at four, but it was 3:40, and Ethan was at the trailer park. She said four, which meant that he had to be  _ at _ the door by four, knocking, which meant that he actually had to be there by three fifty-five so that she didn’t think he was going to be late and annoying. But then Ethan had only been to Lex’s home once before, and wasn’t positive he knew the way, so he’d left right after school had let out to make sure he was there on time, only to find that, yes, he did remember how to get there (Halle-fucking-lujah), and was now thirty minutes early. A whole thirty minutes. Ethan felt like a creep. You don’t show up to a gal’s house  _ thirty minutes early _ , that was just bad et-et...manners. And creepy. 

So Ethan was parked two trailers away, alternating between watching Lex’s trailer, and staring at his watch, counting the seconds. How the fuck had he only been sitting here for ten minutes? The trailer was still. Eleven minutes. Nothing. Twelve minutes. A shadow walked past the front window. Thirteen minutes. The door opened, and Lex walked out, followed by a tiny girl. Fourteen minutes and thirty seconds. They sat on the front step.

Oh fuck. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck. Now what did he do? If he pulled forward, they’d know he’d been sitting there, watching their house. If he did nothing, they’d wonder where he was, and think he was rude and late. 

_ “Time is precious. Always be punctual, and never waste anyone’s time. Especially your own.” _

Fuck fuck fuck fuck  _ fuuuuck _ .

Lex stood up and waved at him. Shit. She saw him. He waved sheepishly back, and pulled forward.

As he got out of the car, she called, “I can’t believe you forgot which house was mine, Asshole! Actually, scratch that, you’re head is like Swiss fucking cheese, so, yeah. I can believe that.”

Oh thank the gods. She didn’t think he was a creeper. 

“Sorry… I dunno, I coulda sworn that one was yours.” He said as he walked up to them. Hannah was staring at him with huge brown eyes. Holy shit she was tiny.

“Dumbass. Ethan, this is my sister Hannah. Hannah, this is my friend Ethan. He’s gonna watch ya tonight while I’m at work, okay?”

Hannah nodded, eyes never leaving Ethan. She smiled slightly.

“Hi, Ethan,” she said softly, “Lexi talks ‘bout you a lot.”

He looked at the older girl, who blushed and said, “Hannah….”

Ethan crouched in front of Hannah and stage whispered, “All good things, right? If she didn’t, then I’ll just have to tall ya some things ‘bout your big sister.”

Hannah giggled. “I dunno. Didja really make somethin’ and say Lexi had for your class?”

Ethan looked at Lex, eyebrows raised. He had, actually. They’d had to make a stable shelf, but Lex had been up all night, ‘cause Hannah’d been sick, so he’d given his shelf to her so she wouldn’t get a zero.

“I did. But ya gotta keep it secret, ‘cause Mr. Houston can’t find out. So sh!”

She giggled again, then looked up at Lex and said, “I like him, Lexi! Webby does, too. She said he’s like me!”

‘Webby?’ He mouthed at Lex who shrugged. 

“That’s great! Look, kiddo, I gotta go to work, now, so can you promise to be good for Ethan until I get back tonight?”

Hannah nodded and hugged her sister, then reached for Ethan’s hand and pulled him into the trailer. Alrighty then.

Lex just laughed at his bewildered expression, and called out before the door slammed shut that she’d be back by ten, and to call if he needed anything.

…

Hannah, it seemed, was a very easy child to watch. All she really wanted to do was color and draw spiders. As she doodled, she babbled about her friend, Webby. 

Webby, it seemed, was a giant purple spider who lived in space and liked secrets. 

“She sounds like a cool spider,” Ethan said, after Hannah finished telling him about the time Webby told her where her mom kept all her booze, and Hannah had told Lex, and then Lex poured it all down the drain. “Seems like she cares about you a lot.”

“Mhm! Can you glue the googlie eyes on?” She handed him a bag of assorted eyes. “I don’t like glue. It’s too sticky and it makes a mess. It’s icky!”

Ethan laughed at the face she pulled. 

“Don’t laugh at me, that’s mean.” She pouted.

He grabbed the glue from the table and fished out eight eyes. “Sorry, Hannah. You’re right, that was mean. Can ya forgive me?” 

She smiled. “Yeah! Can you put the eyes here, here, here, here, here, here, ‘n here?” She pointed at seven spots on her drawing.

“Sure, but I think you forgot one. Spiders got eight eyes.” Ethan said as he started putting glue on the googlies. Fuck, his hand was shaking. 

“Nope! Webby only has seven. A meany hurt her a long time ago and she lost it.” Hannah chirped, and put a red X over one of the eye spots.

“Ouch. Sound’s like that’s gotta hurt. She okay now?” Glue spurted over the side of the eye. Fuck. He used a spare piece of paper to clean up the mess. 

Hannah cocked her head to the side.

“Webby says it did, but she’s okay now, and thanks you for asking. She says to be wa-ry of scorp’ons.”

Wary. Big word for a little kid. 

“Good to know. Scorpions are kinda cool, ya know. They’re… ar..ara… sorry. I can’t remember the word. But they’re like spiders.” He felt stupid. Ethan knew the fucking word. How many times had Henry told him about scorpions and spiders? 

“Arachnids. I know. But Webby doesn’t like ‘em. So I won’t either.” She blinked up at him. “What’s wrong with your hand?”

He looked down. He really shouldn’t’ve been squeezing the glue bottle with his bad hand. It was shaking real bad.

“Ah, I got hurt a couple years ago. Went out in a storm.” He answered vaguely as he used his other hand to place the eyes where she’d asked him to. 

“Oh! I don’t like lightning either. Webby says it can be fake.”

He gaped at her. He hadn’t mentioned lightning. 

He chalked it up to saying there’d been a storm. 

“Huh. Webby sounds smart.”

“She is! I’m hungry. After the eyes, can you make me a bowl of cereal, please? I can’t reach the bowls.”

He frowned. “Well, I  _ could _ , or,” he dragged the word out, “I can make you a hot meal, if you want.”

Hannah frowned and tugged on one of her braids (“Lexi does them every day for me ‘cause I don’t like the way it feels when it’s down”). 

“That’s a lotta work. I can have cereal. Lexi got a big box of cheerios last time she went shopping. She puts bananas in it to make it sweet. I like bananas.”

“Nah. Not really. Besides, I like cookin’. Let’s see whatcha got in the kitchen.” He got up and walked over to the tiny kitchen. On the counter were a bunch of bananas, a box of cheerios, and an eye-covered potato. The fridge had a half empty carton of eggs, expired milk, a jam jar, and a take out box. The freezer had some vodka, chicken thighs, and vanilla ice cream.

“Hannah, is this all the food ya got here?” He asked. It was too similar, too painfully similar to what his house had looked like years ago. He knew how it felt to go hungry at night, to eat the same things day in and day out. Ethan couldn’t knowingly let it happen again right under his nose when he knew something about it.

“No, we have some stuff up in that cab’net,” Hannah pointed a stubby little finger up to the cabinet next to the fridge. Inside, Ethan found a bag of brown sugar, peanut butter, and some flour. 

It wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. He fished his phone from his pocket and called Lex. She answered on the third ring.

“Ethan! Is everything ok?” She asked, and he could perfectly picture her little lopsided frown, and the way her brows would be pinched together.

“Yeah! Yeah, everything’s fine. I was just wonderin’ if it’d be alright for me to take Hannah out to get some dinner?” He asked, desperately hoping she’d say yes. He had a feeling Hannah had already had a bowl of cereal today, and he couldn’t defrost the chicken in nearly enough time for her to eat at a decent time before bed.

“Uh...Look, Ethan. I don’t...I can’t...we don’t have the money right now for-“

He quickly cut in, “I’ll pay. My dads gave me allowance a couple of days ago, so I’ve got the dough. It’s my idea, anyways.”

She hesitated. In the background Ethan could here her boss, Frank (Asshole) Pricely yelling at her.

“Shit, I gotta get back to work. Sure. Just, nothing too big, ok? Sorry. I’ll see ya at ten.”

She hung up. 

“Hey, Hannah? How’d you like to go to Pizza Pete’s?”

…

Hannah, it seemed, did  _ not _ like Pizza Pete’s. Well. She did, just not the loud arcade section. They did bumper cars twice, though, and Ethan won her a small stuffed dog that she promptly named Buddy. After, he bought the two of them a large cheese pizza, ‘cause Hannah mentioned that she didn’t like pepperonis ‘cause they were too spicy. 

He watched her gobble down two big slices, and wondered if she’d eaten lunch. 

“Hey, Hannah? What’d you have to eat today?” He asked carefully as he sipped at his water.

“Mmm, Lexi made me banana cheerios, and I had apple slices for lunch, ‘cause some kids took the sandwich.” She looked at him. “Pleeeaaase don’t tell Lexi! I promise, I’ll be more careful! I won’t let ‘em take it again.”

Ethan sighed and held Hannah’s pleading gaze. “Hey, I can’t promise that. I’m real sorry, Kiddo.” He rushed to continue as her eyes began to water, “Lexi needs to know that you’re bein’ bullied, okay? And ya need to eat. You’re so tiny! At this rate, you’re gonna be pint sized forever!” He reached across the table to flick her nose, and she gave him a watery smile. 

“Tell ya what. You tell me who took your lunch, and Lex doesn’t gotta know.” He said.

Hannah blinked at him. “What’re you gonna do?”

He waved away her concern. “Nothin’. Just talk to ‘em. Scare the livin’ daylights outta ‘em. Mostly talk!” He backtracked when her eyes grew wide again. 

She looked down at her lap and mumbled something. 

“What’d ya say?” Ethan asked.

“River Monroe and Emily Lyles,” she muttered, just a little bit louder. 

“Brilliant. Lex will never know. Unless they do it again. But I’ll take care of it for ya, ok?”

“Thank you!” She smiled so broadly at him that Ethan thought his heart might crack.

“Of course.”

”Can we have ice cream?” She asked suddenly.

“What?” 

“ Nevermind. We don’t gotta. I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it’s fine, my brain can just take a little while to process stuff-“

“Lightning?” She asked.

“Lightning,” he agreed. “But ya want ice cream?”

She nodded shyly. 

“Hmm… you guys got ice cream back at home. D’ya want any special kind of ice cream?”

Hannah shook her head. Then asked, “Can you put banana in it?”

He laughed. “Sure! Kid, you’re banana ‘bout bananas, ya know that?”

She giggled too, “Banana ‘bout bananas, banana ‘bout bananas!”

He tugged gently on her braid. “Silly little Banana Foster-“

Banana foster. Ice cream, bananas. Bananas fucking foster!

“Hey, how’d you like to go to the store real quick?”

…

They’d already had the brown sugar at the house, so Ethan’d grabbed some butter, cinnamon, fake vanilla and rum extracts, and a bag of chopped walnuts. Hannah still didn’t know what they were making, and had eagerly followed him ‘round the store. Before they checked out, he’d run back to the back of the store to grab a gallon of milk. They really shouldn’t drink that spoiled milk. Or use it in cereal. 

Ethan grimaced when he got the price. He’d have to pick up an extra shift at the auto shop to cover what he’d spent tonight. It was worth it, though, when he saw Hannah’s smile. 

She was practically vibrating with excitement by the time they got back to the trailer at eight. 

“What’re we makin’? What’re we makin’? What’re we makin’?”

“I told you I’d tell ya when we got back! We ain’t inside yet, Banana!”

She ran as fast as she could with the leftover pizza box for the door.

Laughing, Ethan followed her inside.

“Tell me now! I wanna know!  _ Please _ !” Hannah begged.

“We’re makin’ bananas foster. It’s like you! See, ‘cause it’s sweet, with a bit of spice, and it’s gotta have bananas!”

It was rare for Ethan to feel smart. He’d never been real intelligent before, and now it took a long time for his brain to connect things, but seeing the look on the little girl’s face when he explained what it was to her, he felt like the most genius person on Earth. 

Together they measured out the ingredients, leaving the ice cream in the fridge, and Hannah stood on a chair and watched as Ethan put the butter, sugar, and extracts into a pan. 

“Ooo,” she said when it started bubbling. “It smells so yummy!”

“I know, right? I love bananas foster. Honestly, I love banana anything. We can be banana fanatics together!”

“Yeah!” She agreed.

He let her dump in the sliced bananas and walnuts, and then dish up the ice cream as he stirred the sauce.

Ethan watched as she took her first bite. Pure heaven was the only way he could think to describe the look on her face. Her eyes widened, and she beamed at him.

“Ethan! It’s too delicious! Too delicious!” She repeated, “ it’s just too delicious!”

Laughing, Ethan took a bite. “You’re right. It is too delicious. I gotta save you from it.” He snuck his spoon into her bowl. “I guess if it’s too delicious, you really shouldn’t be having it.”

“No fair!” She squealed and used her own spoon to push his out of the bowl. “It’s mine! All mine! You have your own.”

He pretended to pout. “Fine,” he sighed, “you win. You can keep your ice cream.”

“Thank you!” She trilled sweetly, before shoveling the dessert into her mouth. 

..

After they finished their ice cream, Ethan had her brush her teeth and wash her face. When she came out of the bathroom, she presented him with a brush.

“What’s this?” He asked.

“Lexi brushes my hair after I do my teeth. And then she makes it one braid.”

Shit.

Lex hadn’t said anything ‘bout  _ braiding _ . Shit!

“Uh, Hannah, I gotta tell ya. I don’t know how to braid. I can brush it for ya, but I really don’t know what to do with it after…” he tried to explain.

“No, it’s ok! We can find a YouTube video! It can teach you!” Hannah said brightly. 

Fuck.

“Okay, kiddo. I can’t promise it’ll be good, but I’ll try. Deal?”

“Deal!”

She grabbed the tv remote and handed it to him. 

“Mom likes tv, so we always have it.” She said as he searched up braiding on YouTube.

That bitch. She would rather pay for tv than food for her two daughters? What the fuck kinda person did that?

Hannah plopped down on the floor in front of him so he could brush her hair while watching the video once before he tried it himself. 

…

Shit. He was absolute shit at braiding hair. Her brown hair kept falling out of the braid, and then he couldn’t tie the fucking hairband around it, so it all fell out and he’d have to start over again. And his hand was shaking violently, which wasn’t helping anything.

He tried a third time, and was nearly finished when his hand spasmed and pulled the hairband out. 

“Fuck!” He growled. “Shit. Sorry, Hannah.” 

She turned around and patted his knee. 

“It’s okay, Ethan. You’re doing your best.” Wise words from a six year old. 

“Yeah, I am.” He sighed and cracked his neck. 

“Maybe you could just tie it up on top? You don’t have to braid it if you can’t.”

Tie it up on top. Yeah. He could do that.

It wasn’t neat, and it wasn’t as pretty as her braids earlier, but he twisted the hair on top of her head to make a real fuckin’ messy bun. It would have to do, though. 

When he finished, she stood up and gave him a big hug. 

“Thank you, Ethan,” she said into his chest.

Next time, he swore, he would braid her hair. He would braid it right, even if it meant forcing John to let him practice on his long hair. 

“Of course, Banana. Let’s get you to bed, ok?”

“Mkay,” she murmured.

He scooped her up and carried her to the room she and Lex shared. She was already asleep by the time he tucked her into bed.

“G’night, Hannah. It was real nice to finally meet ya,” he whispered into the darkness before he closed the door.

Ethan checked his watch to see what time it was, and was surprised to find it was nine thirty. He cleaned up their ice cream mess and poured the old milk down the drain. By the time he finished tidying up the coloring pages and crayons, it was ten, and he could hear Lex walking up to the door.

“Hey!” She said softly once she got inside, “Is she asleep?”

“Yeah, ‘bout thirty minutes ago.”

“Good. Was she any trouble for you?” Lex asked.

“Not at all. She was a fuckin’ angel. Look, if ya ever need anyone to watch her again, I’d be more’n happy to do it.”

“Really? I mean, thank you! I usually give Grace about forty for this long, is that okay for you?” 

She began digging through her purse.

“No, no, you don’t gotta pay me. It’s okay. We had a good time tonight.” He said quickly.

Lex raised a brow at him. “You had a good time with my six year old sister?”

“I- uh- yeah? We went to Pizza Pete’s-“

“Fuck, Ethan! Pizza Pete’s is… a lot. Please tell me you didn’t do any rides or games.” She begged.

“We did, but it’s fine, Lex. It’s fine. There’s pizza in the fridge. I know ya didn’t eat dinner. And Hannah and I made bananas foster, so there’s some in a bowl in the fridge as well.”

She stared at him. Long enough that Ethan thought he’d done something wrong. And then she was crying. Big, gasping sobs, and she reached for him. “Thank you so much, Eth. I- I don’t know what I would’ve done this year without you.”

“Uh...it’s okay? I’m happy to help. Anytime. If ya need me, just call, ok? For anything.”

She sniffled and looked up at him. “I don’t fucking get you, Ethan Green. Everyone said you were this mean punk, but you made my sister ice cream with bananas, ‘cause she loves them, and you gave me your work to turn in, so I wouldn’t flunk, and- and- and you’re a fucking asshole.”

He chuckled softly, “Oh I am absolutely an asshole, but some things are worth it, like yours and Hannah’s smiles.”


End file.
